This is one of the jewels in Cavafy's poetic crown, or at least one of a handful of his best known poems. It is No 32 in the canon.
32. ITHAKA
If, like Odysseus, you try to get home to Ithaka,
be lucky in your journey - let it be a long one
packed with fascination.
Don't be aghast at giants or fear the one-eyed man
or the angry sea-god:
these are only fables.
Your mind exalted,
your spirit and body purified through thought,
you need not witness these monsters
unless you carry them with you
locked in imagination.
This wonderful Ithacan journey -
pray it may be long
full of happy summer mornings
when you enter new harbours never seen before
tense with excitement, your heart thudding heavily.
Do not omit to visit those trading stations
set up by peripatetic Phoenicians
who in their wanderings to fabulous regions
amass the most beautiful pearl and coral
heaped up with amber and ebony
in dark shops redolent with sensuous perfumes.
Do not forget to study at great Egyptian
centres of learning, to extend your wisdom
by the words of the wise.
Your destination, Ithaka, keep always in mind:
that's where you're heading; that's your purpose.
But better that your journey is not hurried
(Ithaka is always waiting)
better if it takes you years to get there;
better if you're old when you reach the island
enriched beyond expectation with experience
- then Ithaka, your goal, on coming home
will not disappoint you.
It was for this you wandered,
for this you came.
Having seen so many wonders,
you accept her: this is your home, your island.
You come with full hands; and you were not fooled,
wise with experience, into thinking
Ithaka other than she is.
